Woody Harrelson received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Larry Flynt, the controversial Hustler magazine founder and champion of free speech, in Miloš Forman’s 1996 biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt.

Even though he didn’t necessarily approve of the publisher’s so-called smut-peddling, the Cheers and White Men Can’t Jump alum, now 56, said he always admired Flynt. When Flynt didn’t receive an invite to the Oscars in 1997, the actor invited him along as his plus-one.

“I really came to like him. I don’t think I would’ve been much into doing the movie if I hadn’t come to respect Larry,” Harrelson, who currently stars in the films LBJ and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, told Yahoo Entertainment in a recent Role Recall interview (watch below). “I don’t respect much the pornography part of what he does, but what he is as a person, and the rebel that he is.”

And Harrelson’s appreciation extends to today. “Even what he did recently offering $10 million for any information leading to the impeachment of our so-called president, I thought was pretty cool,” Harrelson said, referring to Flynt’s bounty seeking dirt that leads to the impeachment of President Trump. “I’ve never met a more honest man who just says exactly what he’s feeling at any moment. We had a good relationship, and still do.”